Category: Bobbi Brown

Bobbi Brown nude Peach Blush ($24.00 for 0.13 oz.) is described as a “pale nude nectar.” It recently debuted in the Neons and Nudes collection but should now be part of the permanent range. It’s a darkened peach-orange with a satin-like sheen and a faint hint of shimmer. It has good color payoff, but it’s not a blush you’d describe as intense. Burberry Tangerine is similar but darker, less peach. Chanel Espiegle is more orange, lighter. Urban Decay Indecent is more orange. MAC Melba is darker, more orange.

The texture is soft without being powdery, so it applies subtly at first but the color can be built up. There’s a soft glowy finish, because the shimmer is downplayed, the sheen is more emphasized. On my skin tone, it adds a peach glow. It should work as a blusher on light to medium skin tones, but darker complexions may find it acts more as a warm highlighter. Bobbi Brown’s blush formula, when I tested out this shade, wore well for eight hours. I like that you can easily pop out the blushes to put into palettes, but I’m not so keen on the minimal quantity provided–0.13 oz. is about a third to a half the size of your average blush. If you own more than a handful of blushes, you’re not likely to finish this quickly by any means, though.

Bobbi Brown Rose Gold Shimmerbrick ($39.00 for 0.40 oz.) is supposed to create a “soft, warm pink glow.” Each shade can also be used as an eyeshadow. When blended together, it takes on a warm copper with just a hint of pink/rose. It has a frosted shimmer-sheen and has enough pigmentation to give cheeks a little color (more in the form of warmth) as well as highlight. Laura Mercier Rose Rendezvous is a little darker but similar. MAC Redhead looks nearly identical to me.

The first shade is a soft light-medium pink with a frosted sheen. The second shade is a warm yellow with an iridescent pink sheen. The third shade is a rosy copper with a frosted sheen. The fourth shade is a broze with red undertones and a metallic sheen. The fifth and final shade is a medium coppered rose (it’s more orange than the third shade).

Because all five shades have a high level of frost in their finishes, this is as a very shimmery, high sheen product. If you prefer a softer, subtler, more refined glow (think Guerlain and Chanel), this will likely be too much. If you like products like MAC Mineralize Skinfinishes, Laura Mercier’s Rendezvous, or Estee Lauder’s Illuminating Gelees, you’ll probably like the finish of this. It does ever-so-slightly emphasize pores; I’m sensitive to products that to do this, but it’s minimal enough that you don’t see it unless you’re standing a few inches from the mirror. If you want a subtler shimmer, try using a stippling brush instead of a regular blush or highlighting brush.

I tested out the wear of this Shimmerbrick last week, and it wore for about seven hours before looking slightly faded after eight hours. The texture of the powder is very soft, and it’s not at all gritty–with as much shimmer as there is, it still feels finely-milled and applies incredibly smoothly.

Bobbi Brown Holiday Lipgloss Trio ($38.00 for 3 x 0.14 fl. oz.) includes these three shades: Bare Sparkle (champagne with pearl), Pastel (soft pink with pink pearl), and Aubergine (deep grape plum). This was easily the holiday product that I used the most this past holiday season, and ultimately, it was what made me really fall in love with Bobbi Brown’s High Shimmer formula.

Though we’re really diving head first into spring already (it seems far too early), I still have a meaty backlog of products from the holidays I’d like to share with you, including this gem. This set is still available at a lot of retailers online, plus all the shades in the trio can also be bought individually in full-size.

Bare Sparkle is virtually colorless on the lips but imparts a ton of fine sparkle on lips along with a high gloss shine. This shade is similar to a lot of barely-there glosses that have a healthy dose of shimmer in them.

Pastel is a sheer, soft pink with pink and gold shimmer with a glossy shine. It emphasizes the natural pinkness in my lip color but is still see-through. I kept reaching for this one and layering it over darker reds and berries. The hue reminded me of Chanel Imaginaire but with less sparkle.

Aubergine is a red-plum with very, very subtle gold sparkle. This is part of the regular Lipgloss line-up. It’s the most opaque gloss of the three, and it’s semi-opaque at that. It doesn’t settle too much into lip lines and has a nice glossy finish. Chantecaille Patina looks a bit like it but has more sparkle.

I’ve already extolled the virtues of High Shimmer Lipglosses enough in the past week, but to briefly recap: ultra glossy, non-sticky, wears four hours or so, moisturizing, and absolutely dazzling and sparkling. Aubergine, which is just a regular Lipgloss, performs well, too; it’s comfortable, non-sticky, and wears four hours or so.

Something I dig about this trio is that all three shades are part of Bobbi Brown’s permanent range, so if you find you love any one enough and have run out of it, you can pick up just that shade later on. There’s still plenty of gloss in each tube (0.14 fl. oz. vs. 0.24 fl. oz. for full-sized glosses) but for less than the price of two, you get to test out three different shades. Bare Sparkle and Aubergine also look lovely layered!

Bobbi Brown Naked Plum High Shimmer Lipgloss ($23.00 for 0.24 fl. oz.) is described as a “rosy brown with pink pearl.” It’s a pale pink-mauve and gold shimmered rosy plum hued gloss with tons of sparkle and high gloss shine. This one looks phenomenal when worn, because it delivers mostly opaque color coverage. NARS Oasis is sheerer and less plum. Dior Mauve Accent is pinker. MAC Quick Change is a little less plum and has more copper shimmer.

Bobbi Brown’s newest lipgloss is ultra shiny with a really high gloss finish that wears really well–four hours, even with lighter shades–and feels comfortable on, because it’s non-sticky and moisturizing. The sparkling shimmer isn’t gritty, so it doesn’t feel rough when the glossiness fades, and the shimmer doesn’t travel to your eyebrows either (hey, it happens with some glosses; how, I have no idea!).

Top 10 of 2011: Lipsticks & Lipglosses

Whew — this was difficult! I ended up having to lump some of the new-for-2011 formulas into a single pick, even though there were lots of shades I loved! These are products I reviewed and discovered in 2011, some being part of a brand’s permanent range and others being new/limited edition shades that we saw over the past months. I guess you could say I gravitate towards reds…